Srinivasa Ramanujan Was A Self-Taught, Prodigious, Indian Mathematician

You've probably never heard of Srinivasa Ramanujan, but he is known as the mathematician with perhaps the most natural ability for math in history. Just check out the 2015 film based on his life, "The Man Who Knew Infinity." Ramanujan was born in 1887 in a small village in the southern part of India. He attended a local grammar school and high school, where it didn't take long for him to show his affinity for numbers. He grew obsessed with math, a trait that got him kicked out of college for neglecting his courses that weren't math-related.

But the mathematical genius didn't let that stop his education. Mainly self-taught in math, Ramanujan independently arrived at many mathematical theories and proofs that already existed. He sent a letter to Cambridge professors with his research around 1912. The Cambridge staff recognized his innate genius and granted him a research scholarship. Not long after he went to Cambridge to work, Ramanujan died at the age of 32 from tuberculosis. Watch the video below to learn about the work he did with partitions.